The IFLA World Library and Information Congress visits one of seven different global regions each year, with stops in Cape Town, South Africa; Lyon, France; Helsinki, Finland and San Juan, Puerto Rico in recent years. This year the congress lands in Columbus, Ohio. Here's how a local group brought it to the heart of Ohio and what to expect from this year's congress.
The OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center (EJC) has undergone a rebuild in recent months and our new, upgraded version is slated to launch on Aug. 4, right around the corner. This new EJC will be a significant upgrade both in infrastructure and interface. The result is more accurate searching and an overall better experience for all of our users, as well as improved features for library staff who analyze and assess the content.
OhioLINK is lucky enough to have riders from its member libraries on its Pelotonia team. Read about how Michelle Brasseur and Matt Shreffler of Wright State University joined the team and came up with creative ways to fundraise their way to the ride.
The American Library Association (ALA) is not only the oldest but the largest library association in the world, dating back to 1876. So it stands to reason that attending the ALA’s annual conference is a must for those of us in the library industry because it brings every piece of what we do together in one location each year. Take a look at some of the takeways first-time attendee Erin Kilkenny experienced at this year's conference.
Cataloging can be a very daunting task, especially if you’re relatively new to the game. Every vendor has different channels in which you need to maneuver through to finally get all your content in the right order in your catalog. At a recent Ohio Library Council Tech Services Retreat, OhioLINK’s Emily Flynn gave a presentation that shed some light on the quality of the vendor records we receive and how she best moves through cataloging.
OhioLINK has a great history of shared collections within our consortium of 120 Ohio academic libraries and the State Library of Ohio. And, like the rest of the academic library world, we are in the throes of the print-to-electronic book transition.
Collaboration, innovation and creative design are a few ways OhioLINK and member libraries inspire students, staff, faculty and researchers to develop new art, music and mechanical contraptions. Recently, an installation of musical stairs, an impressive example of collaboration, was on display at Otterbein University’s Courtright Memorial Library.
Did you know Ohio has the largest single state collaborative of eTutoring across the continent? That’s because there is a great deal of support for a program that began as a grass roots collaborative effort and has blossomed across the state.
Understanding how a collaborative offers a cost-efficient and effective model for an eTutoring program was the focal point of a presentation eStudent Services delivered at the recent Association of Colleges for Tutoring and Learning (ACTLA) Conference. The presentation was titled, “Chronicles of Ohio’s eTutoring Collaborative and Steps to Start Your State’s Collective.”
In order to contribute to our never-ending quest for a great user experience, I recently attended and presented at Designing for Digital, a conference specifically for those working on user experience issues in libraries. For me, this conference was not only an opportunity to present the work we’re doing at OhioLINK, but also a chance to learn from others engaged in similar efforts.
Conferences are wonderful experiences for a number of different reasons: Growing skillsets, networking with prominent though-leaders and experiencing new ways of conducting business. All of these are summed up by one thought, improvement. Recently, members of eStudent Services attended the annual ACTLA conference and the takeaways were more than anticipated. Take a look at Mitch Wilson's recent blog post on the conference and the benefits with which the eStudent Services team came away.
April kicks off the electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) submission season. Submitting an ETD is one of the last requirements for many Ohio students before their Masters or Ph.D. graduation. It is at this point that the students begin to log on to the OhioLINK ETD Center, some sign up for a research ORCID identifier, and submit their ETD to be reviewed and published. While this sounds simple, there is a lot of work that goes into the submission and review process.
Job-hunting is daunting for everyone, but it can be especially burdensome for veterans transitioning to civilian life. Fortunately, Ohio’s academic libraries and institutions have made significant strides to make this process an easier one for military service members. This includes access to job-searching resources, continuing education materials and professional consulting services. Many university and local libraries have programs specifically tailored to veterans.
OhioLINK libraries make obtaining a book from a member academic library an incredibly easy, smooth process. Do you know how? Take a look inside the "Journey of an OhioLINK Book" as we detail the entire trip.
Whether you are seriously considering higher education as a traditional or non-traditional student, you have more options than ever before. And while having all of those options is a wonderful thing, it is also important that you understand three key considerations.
OhioLearns is the one-stop site for anyone interested in college-level distance or e-learning in Ohio. OhioLearns is a searchable catalog that includes courses as well as degrees and certificates from Ohio’s two- and four-year, public and private, higher education institutions.
We all know it’s not always the case that an event, a movie, even a meal lives up to the preceding hype. The Ohio Educational Technology Conference (OETC) is one of the rare exceptions. According to its website, OETC is “the premier P-20 state educational technology conference,” and guess what? It actually is.
Public library patrons are representative of many walks of life: students, job seekers, bookworms and insert-hobby-here enthusiasts. It’s no secret that public library resources are available to anyone, not just students and researchers. But did you know the same is true for OhioLINK resources? While you may have heard about the many benefits of OhioLINK, or even experienced them first-hand as a college student, you may not know they are available to you just by being a resident of Ohio.
OhioLINK’s Favorite Library Event Ideas of 2015
Throughout 2015, OhioLINK’s 121 member libraries came up with fun and clever ways to engage with students, faculty, staff and researchers. And the result? Not only did everyone involved have a great time, but the libraries were able to share what they’re all about with their communities. Here is a list of some of our favorites from this year!
Adult Coloring:
Beyond all the food, family and football we enjoy on Thanksgiving Day, there is also the deep understanding of what this day truly means. It’s a time for gathering with loved ones and reflecting on everything we are fortunate to have in our lives.
And while having our most vital human needs met is obviously at the top of the “being thankful” list, there are many other things in our daily lives for which we can and should give thanks.
As a consortium of 120 academic libraries along with the State Library of Ohio, it’s fantastic to hear and read about all the events happening throughout Ohio to promote Open Access Week (October 19-25).
The Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH) delivers world-class technologies, information and expertise to benefit academic, government and industrial researchers and boost Ohio's economy. OH-TECH is comprised of three member organizations: the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet) and the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK). We hope to become your resource for news and information on supercomputing, networking and library trends.
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The views expressed on this web page are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the positions of, and should not be attributed without confirmation to, the Ohio Technology Consortium, any OH-TECH member organization, or The Ohio State University.
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